March Question

Why do almost all of your characters in the Recluce books have red hair?

It only seems that way, but because of the comments over the years I decided to actually count. While it is true that I have more redheads in my books than do many other authors, those insist that all my characters are redheads are somewhat overestimating the numbers and the percentages. According to my count, of the protagonists and their significant others in the Recluce books, nine (9) are brown-haired; six (6) red-haired (6); three (3) blond; three (3) silver; and two (2) are black-haired. That means redheads comprise 26% of the total, but brown-haired characters are 40%.

—L. E. Modesitt, Jr.: March 4th, 2013

3 thoughts on “March Question”

I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that the physical characteristic in question symbolized a specific lineage (which is also something quite intriguing in itself). So it only makes sense that there would be more than one or two characters with that particular trait.

While we are on the topic of hair (ok, 4 years later, but who’s counting??) I’ve always wondered why most of your female Recluce characters have short, or no longer than shoulder length, hair? I realize this is a pretty trivial thing to wonder about, but it has been a vague nagging question in the back of my mind for almost 20 years, so I figured I would go ahead and ask! 🙂